Split Second Decisions
by Cordelia Darcy
Summary: What would happen if the events at the end of the war did not occur as everyone thought? If the main characters changed their course of action? Lovers reunite, and the downfall of a city brings new life...ON INDEFINITE HIATUS
1. Chapter 1

**Split-Second Decisions**

**Dedicated to angelofmeliusprime, Emily, and Christina!**

**My first fic, so...be nice ;)**

_Troy was burning._

The ancient city which had withstood so much over countless ages had been captured at last by the invading Greeks. As one empire rose, another turned to ashes.

However, this was not what was going through the mind of the last living Prince of Troy as he ran through the flaming city. In fact, the only thing he was able to contemplate was the

exact location of the passageway Hector had told him about...

_Hector...._

Paris clenched his fist involantarily. Would he ever get out of his brother's long shadow? The answer, he knew, was no. Never.

The name Hector would be remembered for intense and undying devotion to a doomed city. For wisdom and courage...obviously too much of the latter for his own good.

Paris would always be thought of as the foolish boy whose love for one woman came at the cost of millions of lives and the fall of a great city.

It just may have been worth it though, if only-

No. He could not dwell on the past, not now. Because if he started, there was no way he could stop. _Concentrate Paris! I have to get to the tunnel! _

Andromache and Astynax would be waiting for him...he couldn't leave them there alone, unguarded in this nightmarish world of fire! If anything happened to them, he would never forgive

himself. Hector had made him promise to care for them- if he should not return from his battle with Achilles. Paris could not fail his brother in this, if nothing else.

He felt new strength come into him, and he sprinted past the burning houses, past the crumbling ancient citadel, past the Trojan palace. Here Paris forced himself to pause and catch his

breath. As he leaned, chest heaving, on the base of the statue of Apollo that marked the entrance to the palace. Flames engulfed the proud building and the wails of those either unable

to get out or too stubbornly loyal to leave echoed in Paris's ears.

_His home..._

He couldn't stop himself. Every memory of his life in this palace came rushing back, vying for a place in his consciousness...

_Running in childish delight from Hector and Deiphobus through the hallways, as they managed to once again escape their lessons to play._

_Looking out of his balcony at the moonlight-reflecting sea, wondering once again if his father's harsh words were motivated by love or hatred. _

_Laying under the shade of the fig tree in the gardens, smiling at something Helen had said, using the oppurtunity to stare into her crystaline blue eyes..._

...And such divine eyes_. They reminded Paris of the crisp, cloudless sky above Troy in early spring, and he had not hesitated in informing her of this as much as possible_--

--Paris jerked his head up. How much time had he wasted?

He forced himself to let go of the statue and, giving the only home he had ever known one last longing filled gaze, took a deep breath and began running.

Dodging flaming debris, he navigated through the winding alleys of the city, heading for the eastern gate. He had finally convinced himself that as long as he kept his pace no Greek in his

right mind would do so much as raise a sword at him- when he collided head on with one of the only Greeks who would recognize him by his appearance.

Diomedes.

Paris groaned inwardly. But maybe, just maybe, he wouldn't recognize him. _Please, whatever gods still favor Troy, don't let him recogni-_

He recognized him.

"Well well_ well_!" he slurred. "Look what we have here! It's the man- wait, make that the _boy_ who started it all!" Judging from his speech patterns (and his breath), Paris gathered that

Diomedes had been one of the Greeks who had managed to locate the expansive royal Trojan wine cellar.

Paris allowed himself a small mirthless laugh. But then-

"Tell me _Paris_, where's your pretty little Spartan tramp now? I'm willing to bet _Menelaus _has run her through already, but if not, I envy whichever Greek gets her first--"

"_SHUT UP YOU GREEK DOG_!"

In a blind rage, he drew his sword and, holding it with both hands, raised it above his head and snarled, "Gods help me, I will make you regret ever being born!!!"

Diomedes had no chance, sober or otherwise.

With a primal yell, Paris brought his blade down and plunged it into Diomedes' throat. He sank to his knees, eyes open wide. As blood spurted from the wound, he slowly sank to the dirt

and began to gasp, choking on his own bitter blood.

Paris kicked him in the gut.

"Greek filth", he muttered, and walked past him, relaxing his rigorous pace to let his fury subside.

Paris trudged on blindly, not actually _seeing _where his feet were taking him. After a few minutes of deep breathing his senses returned, and he stopped and assessed his

surroundings. He was fairly certain that to get to the exit passage he ought to turn left at that courtyard back there he had just passed...but he decided he had best look around to be

certain it was the correct location.

He turned on his heel and was just begining to inspect the clay street markers when something in the nearby courtyard caught his eye.

Paris glanced in that direction, and had just begun to resume his assesment when what he had seen registered in his brain.

He whipped his head back around and gaped. A single thought ran through his mind.

_No._

**Well there's Chapter uno! Pretty please review? *look at you cutely* Fudge to all reviewers!! LOTS of fudge...**

**Chapter 2 will come...eventually! I will personally thank every reviewer in it. **


	2. Chapter 2

******A HUGE thanks to_ Q.u.e.e.n.0.f.C.r.a.z.y, Emily P., Angel of Melius Prime, VeronicaD13, DXRULES103, Moonstar 11, _and_ Violet Saphira Darling  
_for their marvelous reviews! You guys are great! :) Fudge to all.**

**~dramalover  
******

**_6 hours earlier_**

_Troy was rising_.

The sun moved steadily upward from its resting point below the horizon, slowly overtaking the city with the soft yet persistent light of the early morning.

To the citizens of Troy, this light was also a welcome reminder that they had survived yet another day under the nightmare of the Greek seig-

_But wait_!; they thought to themselves, eyes widening, lips parting in expressions of sudden, shocked memory; _That's right_!

_The Greeks are gone_!

It had, in fact, been one day, 4 hours, and 21 minutes ("_But who's counting?" _they chuckled to themselves) since the Greek fleet had suddenly _left_.

No explenation, no final battle, merely a few mumbled phrases of the "sick of this useless fighting", and "Helen or not, I'm going _home_" variety, and some mention (the Trojans thought) of a horse as some sort of sacrifice to Minerva.

But no one quite knew the particular details, and in all honesty no one cared.

All the citizens knew was that the Greeks, their sworn enemies, attackers, aggressors, had for reasons of their own decided after 10 long, treacherous years to return to theie homeland.

So all throughtout the city the Trojans attempted to go about their normal routines, though no one really could remember what constituted "normal" before the war.

Bakers whistled while pummeling dough for the first batch of the day.

Sheperds drove their flocks out of the city to their former pastures, and though hesitant at first they gradually became more and more relaxed as they saw the now pristine sand of the so recently occupied beaches.

Even the temple priests had the edges of smiles on their traditionally grave lips as they chanted an ancient hymn of thanks to Apollo, their protector.

If you had told any Trojan that morning that by the end of the day their city would become a blazing, lifeless wasteland, never to be occupied again; and that it would be the _Greeks_ who brought this to pass, they likely would have stared blankly at you for a second before either bursting out laughing, or patting you on the back and kindly directing you to the nearest apothocary.

However, there was one resident of Troy who, had you told them this statement, would _not_ have laughed or sent you on your way, but instead would've involuntarily felt a surge of _hope _

at the latter part of it, the part about the Greeks' return.

While they did not in any way desire for their beloved city to fall into foreign hands, they nevertheless wished, deep down in some hidden portion of their heart, that the Greeks would come back.

For this Trojan, far from feeling elated when they had heard the "joyous" news of the war's end, instead felt _abandoned; _left behind. But not by all of the Greeks.

Just one.

One who had caused her (for this person was a her) to think things- to _feel_ things she had never in her wildest dreams imagined she could, and now that he was gone- _had left_ she corrected herself coldly. Now that he _had left, _she could not imagine ever feeling _anything_ again...

Briseis, priestess of Apollo and princess of Troy, squeezed her kohl-lined eyes together to avoid tears.

_Get ahold of yourself! They're never coming back- and neither is he. _

At this her bottom lip began inevitably to quiver, and her once-delicate hands held the arms of her chair in a death grip.

She attempted to breathe deeply in order to calm herself down, but most likely would have begun sobbing afresh had it not been for the arrival of the Trojan queen, know to Briseis as her aunt, Hecuba.

The queen stepped onto the balcony, where Briseis now spent most of her time looking out over the city.

"Good morning Briseis! Have you seen Priam anywher- Oh!" she exclaimed, her keen eyes noting the younger woman's bloodshot ones. "You've been out here crying again, haven't you?"

"I'm fine, aunt." murmured Briseis. "Just...thinking."

"Nonsense darling!" clucked Hecuba, her elegant grey eyebrows furrowing. "Thinking _indeed_. You simply haven't been the same since that brute of a Greek-" she flashed her a sympathetic look. "Well, I don't suppose my mentioning him will make you feel any better. But all that aside, you really don't have to do this anymore! He's gone now- they're _all_ gone dear, and they aren't coming back. And isn't that in itself enough to cheer you up?"

_No!_ Briseis thought fiercely, _in fact quite the contrary!_

But she did not express this out loud, instead plastering a smile to her face.

"Of course aunt. How silly of me to carry on like this! I don't know what I was doing. You're right of course, now that that Greek _monster_"- here she winced-"is gone, I've nothing to worry about."

She attempted to force something resembling a laugh.

"There, you see? You're feeling better already" smiled Hecuba. "Now, let's get you inside."

Side by side they left the balcony and entered the cool interior of the palace.

Once there, the queen glanced around as if to make sure they were truly alone before whispering excitedly "So dear, have you heard?"

"About what?" replied Briseis uneasily.

"_About what? _Why, about the horse! Now that I think about it I'd be surprised if you did know, why should you? The only person you're talking to these days is Paris," she said dismissively. "But no matter."

"Now back to what I was saying- As the Greeks were preparing to leave, one of our spies- I can't recall his name - overheard Odysseus say that there was a prophecy: if the wooden

horse they built to placate Minerva was brought into Troy, it would protect us from harm, as well as bring us the favour of Minerva herself!

The spy also managed to hear the location where they were going to leave the horse. So naturally, once they left there was a unanimous decision for it to be brought to the city square!

In fact it's there now, they brought it inside last night."

"Although- Hecuba hesitated- "the decision wasn't_ completely _unanimous.

"Helen burst into the council meeting and started ranting about how we simply _couldn't_ bring the horse in, she said it was because...well who knows why? It was _Helen, _I'd be surprisedif anyone was listening.

"We had to get the guards to drag her out finally, and even then we could hear her screaming outside the door. I think she even tried to go and talk to Paris, but" she snorted "as I'm

sure you well know, he won't have anything to do with her! It would seem they've finally had one fight too many. About time if you ask me." Hecuba finished.

"Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to find Andromache and tell her the seating chart for the victory banquet tonight. I haven't seen her all morning! She 's been in such a mood ever since-"

here the queen faltered, and without another word walked off, leaving behind a very confused Briseis.

Feeling overloaded by this onslaught of information, Briseis made her way to her favorite window seat and sank down into it's soft cushions. Gazing out to the distant sea, she contemplated the wooden horse, attempting to make sense of it but somehow only becoming more and more confused.

_Why would the Greeks make an offering to Minerva in the first place? She's their patron goddess! And why would she ever grant favour to Troy? And- _here her face darkened- _why would the Greeks, Odysseus specifically, discuss this "prophecy" out in the open? Achilles always said that important matters were only talked about in private..._

Suddenly, Briseis felt a hand grip her shoulder.

Instinctively she jerked back, grabbed the person's forearm and had them pinned to the ground in an instant.

She was shocked when she found herself staring into a pair of startled looking blue eyes.

"_Helen_?"

**A/N:**

**Hey guys! Sorry it took so...erm, _long _(to put it nicely) to get this up. But I now have the ideas for the next 3 chapters, so don't despair!**

**Reviews of any kind are SO valued! I have the plan for the story now, but if anyone has any ideas I'll gladly try to incorporate them. No promises, but I'll try!**

**And sorry for the cliffie...I just like ending chapters like that ) Haha sorry but no worries we won't have a time jump next chapter, it'll continue where this one left off. I would have lumped them together but I really wanted to get it posted!**


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